INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
visas to Dutch diplomats to staff their embassy in Moscow and the consulate in St
Petersburg.Because of the lack of staff, the consulate will close on Monday, though the embassy will stay open, the statement added.The
Netherlands had repeatedly tried to find a solution to the dispute, said the ministry statement."Russia's continued attempts to place
intelligence officers into the Netherlands under diplomatic cover are unacceptable," Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra tweeted later
Saturday."That is why we are limiting the number of Russian diplomats in the Netherlands."The Russian diplomats being told to leave have two
mission was "a response to the continued violations of international human rights" by Moscow, Hoekstra said in a separate letter to
international condemnation and sanctions backed by the expulsion of hundreds of Russian diplomats from Western nations, some accused of
spying.Moscow has responded by sending home dozens of Western diplomats.The Netherlands expelled 17 Russian diplomats shortly after the
said.As a result, "the Russian embassy in The Hague will not be able to have more diplomats than the Dutch embassy in Moscow," it
said.Tensions between the two countries had already been high over the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014
The plane, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, had 196 Dutch citizens aboard.International investigators said this month that there were
"strong indications" that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally approved the supply of the missile that shot it down.Last year, a
